Time is completely out of our control. We are born into this earth and before we can accomplish all we want to accomplish, we die. However, as human beings, we think that we can buy away our problems. Whether we admit it or not, we genuinely do think that we could just buy our way out of even the inevitable. This is the reason I have recently found interest and had my curiosity sparked by time and how much we are willing to spend for it. How much is our time worth? Of course there's the sentimental side of this question that speaks of spending time with people to build relationships that are priceless. However, I am focussed on the actual number value of time. If time had a price, what would it be? What is the consumer psychology of someone who is buying time?
I'm a guitarist and I love the feeling of getting a new guitar. A few months ago I saw a guitar online that I had been searching for. It was very rare to find this model being sold, so I added it to my cart and went through to the shipping and handling. I saw that I could do the regular shipping which was $80 and would take 3 weeks to get to me. The other option was $130 for 1 week of waiting for my new guitar. I was met with a dilemma. Was I really about to spend an extra $50 just to get this guitar 2 weeks sooner? Would those 2 weeks really have been so unbearable without that guitar? You're probably wondering what I ended up doing. I spent those $50 and got that guitar in 1 week. This is something we actually face everyday.
Another example is buying something from a convenience store. You could spend the time walking through a grocery store and buy a snack for $1 or you could stop at that gas station and spend $2 for that same snack. It's not much, but that adds up and the mindset doesn't change. Because we're willing to spend extra just for the convenience of being manipulated by the business.
What are some instances where you have spent extra just to save yourself some time or maybe even buy yourself some more time?
Whenever I am sick (Not covid, just a little under the weather), I think before I call out of work, "Would I be willing to pay XYZ to stay home today? " and decide from there what I need to do and what my time is worth to me. Having to make decisions based on the value we put on our time is something we face every day.
Really enjoyed reading your post!